Buoyed by heavy capital inflows amid forecast of normal monsoon for this year and firm global markets, an across-the-board buying pushed the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex 349 points on Wednesday to 19,470.98.
Buying was so robust that all the 13 sectoral indices closed in the green, with auto, IT, metal and banking segments making big gains.
Experts said investors chose to ignore a string of negatives like arrests of senior officials of telecom companies in 2G spectrum allocation scam, inflation and high oil prices.
The 30-share BSE barometer resumed with upside gap at 19,274.21 and remained in the positive throughout the session to settle at 19,470.98, a net rise of 349.15 points, or 1.83 per cent, over yesterday’s close.
Similarly, the NSE 50-issue Nifty spurted 110.90 points or 1.93 per cent to 5,851.65.
FIIs, the main market drivers, bought shares worth Rs 1693.19 crore, according to provisional figures, while domestic institutional investors injected Rs 208.33 crore yesterday.
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While monsoon forecast lifted investor sentiment, it was bolstered by Asian markets, which recorded gains following a rebound on the Wall Street yesterday after strong results from tech bellwether Intel and other US companies.
Key benchmark indices in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan closed up between 0.29 per cent and 2.23 per cent.
European markets, too, displayed a firm trend, tracking gains. The CAC was up 2.02 per cent, the DAX 2.26 per cent and the FTSE 1.85 per cent.
“A good set of numbers declared by HCL Tech and YES Bank also aided the uptrend,” said Shanu Goel, senior research analyst (equity) at Bonanza Portfolio.
He said the afternoon session witnessed a volatile movement, as market reacted adversely to news related to 2G scam, but that was quickly discounted and momentum gained strength as the session progressed.
Market sentiment was likely to be affected by TCS and Reliance results tomorrow, Goel added.
“It was an impressive trading session for the Indian stock market on Wednesday amid strong gains across global equity markets, especially in Europe,” said Amar Ambani, head of research (India private clients) — IIFL.
In addition, forecast of normal monsoon and strong export growth added to the cheer, Ambani said.
He said, as a result, the news of CBI court rejecting the bail pleas of top telecom honchos didn’t make any major dent, barring a brief hiccup in the afternoon session.
Auto shares attracted good buying support on expectations of higher sales. Mahindra & Mahindra was the top gainer from the Sensex pack with a rise of 5.05 per cent, followed by Tata Motor (3.99 per cent) and Bajaj Auto (1.77 per cent).
Excellent performance by IT company HCL Technologies, too, helped the software counters rally. The company posted 33 per cent growth in net profit for the third quarter. The company’s scrip ended 9.93 per cent up.
The largest software services exporter TCS flared 4.63 per cent, followed by Wipro (up 3 per cent) and Infosys Tech (0.65 per cent).
Metal stocks were in the limelight on firm trend on the London Metal Exchange. Hindalco rose 4.16 per cent, Jindal Steel 2.39 per cent, Tata Steel 2.31 per cent and Sterlite Ind 2.11 per cent.
Overall, 27 of the 30 index-based scrips closed with gains, while REL Com, Hero Honda and L&T ended with losses.